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Transcription of swedish television coverage of the Gregorian Bivolaru case (13-04-2005)
Excerpts from the press conference 13. April in Malmö on Swedish TV news Sydnytt.

Last week the yogaleader Gregorian Bivolaru was arrested in Malmö. According to Romanian authorities he has been on the run without a just cause, accused of abuse of a yogastudent, but according to supporters the case is about a court scandal.

It is two completely opposite pictures that are presented of the 53 year old yogateacher Gregorian Bivolaru. Rumanian authorities and Rumanian media is describing him as a suspected pedophile, who supposedly had a sexual relationship with one of his yoga students and he is also suspected of human trafficking. But his supporters, which gathered at a press conference in Malmö today, Bivolaru is described as a political refugee, who has come to Sweden to escape the authorities false accusations.

Mihai Stoian (representative for International Federation of Yoga and Meditation): “I think the Romanian authorities consider Bivolaru a threat because he is the one who stands – among other people – for incorruptibility, who stands for some moral principles. Because of this, I would say, wave he created in society, which is a very solid spiritual wave, he was representing a threat to the system, which tried always to make compromise, to manipulate, they tried to hide some things. That’s the truth from my perspective.”

Gregorian Bivolaru founded the yoga movement MISA in the beginning of the 90’s, a spiritual movement which, it is claimed, is encouraging sexual relations between teachers and students.

But the accusations that Bivolaru should have abused one of his minor students is wrong, claims the lawyer who is defending the student. After a long interrogation the girl was forced to sign a confession, which she has now withdrawn, says the lawyer, and that her client is also a victim in the authorities hunt of Bivolaru.

Adina Solomon: “Many of her fundamental human rights have been violated. That is the right to defend yourself, to freedom, freedom of expression and the right to privacy and the right to education.”

According to the chief international prosecuter in Malmö, Swedish authorities are working with the case, the investigation will show if an extradition will be against the human rights and therefore rejected.

Ulla Sandbak, priest and former member of the European parliament, engaged in human rights, has taken an interest in the case Gregorian Bivolaru. It was she, who recommended him to seek political asylum in Sweden. “I really don’t hope, he will be extradited to Romania, but that the charges against him will be examined here in Sweden. For sure we will find out that all the accusations are false”.